Posts tagged:#Hip-Hop

“I don’t know where to begin […] because nothing has been written here. Once the first book comes, then we’ll know where to begin”.Barbara Smith

There is some irony in how I came across Black is Beautiful, a masterpiece created by African American scholar Paul C. Taylor. I was looking for Russell’s History of Western Philosophy and, while waiting for the bookshop staff to locate it (their attempts would eventually prove unsuccessful despite their certainty that ‘Russell has to be in the shop’), my eyes wandered and settled on Taylor’s book. How lucky I was!

The opening quote, taken from Barbara Smith’s Toward a Black Feminist Criticism, immediately presents us with the urgency that the book tackles and tries to solve. There is much art by, about, and with black people, but not enough thoughtto connect them together, help us think more productively about black expressive culture, which would allow us to contextualise and understand our reactions to black art. There is a strong feeling that much can be said about this art and an even stronger desire for these intentions to be finally clearly stated.

We celebrated Project Myopia with a beautiful launch event towards the end of semester 2. It was a night of music and poetry, as well as an opportunity for some of our contributors to elaborate on their essays and ideas. Our performers touched on a wide range of serious issues: from the exclusion of racial minorities’ contribution to the canon of literature, to the oppressive nature of zero-hour contracts that prevent tutors from being able to fully engage in helping all students get ahead, let alone those from a minority background who need assistance most. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who performed and shared their experiences, and we also have to thank everyone who attended and helped us drink the wine we provided! Project Myopia aims to bring marginalized people together and amplify their voices, and our launch felt like a perfect culmination of our semester’s work: people came together and shared their experiences of an academic world we need to change.

I would like to advocate for the inclusion of the 2015 musical play Hamilton in the list of works available for study in the English Literature curriculum at the University of Edinburgh, particularly in contemporary theatre and American literature courses. Hamilton retells the life story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, in the form of a hip-hop and R&B-style musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the play’s creator, is an American composer of Puerto Rican heritage. He plays the title character in the New York production, whose cast is almost solely made up of actors of African American, Latin American or Asian American heritage.